


If We Were Honest and Both Wrote A Sonnet

by PennamePersona



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Being Young and In Love, Established Relationship, Fluff, Introspection, Kissing, Leaving, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-28
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-17 14:58:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4670978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PennamePersona/pseuds/PennamePersona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two different perspectives, at two different times, from two different people, about leaving home. </p><p>Will Solace is struck by how it will be, to have Camp Half-Blood go on without him there, and how odd it will be to not be there in the same capacity that he has been for so long. </p><p>Nico di Angelo is struck by how different this place is to him, now, and how he can be happy while leaving without being happy about leaving.</p><p>Title is from Light A Roman Candle With Me by Fun. </p><p>Can be read as a continuation to Light A Roman Candle With Me, but it isn't necessary to read that to understand this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If We Were Honest and Both Wrote A Sonnet

**Author's Note:**

> This one isn't quite so directly inspired by the song Light A Roman Candle With me, but the title is a line from that song, so there's that. I personally consider this to be part of the same verse as my previous fic Light A Roman Candle With Me, but as of yet, it isn't officially part of that verse as far as organization on this site goes. 
> 
> Regardless, in this fic, Will is eighteen, Nico is seventeen, and it's set three years after The Blood Of Olympus, when they're both spending their last bit of time at Camp Half-Blood before going on to Camp Jupiter.

Being in love with Nico di Angelo is an entirely different experience than Will would have assumed.

Or maybe it isn't. Maybe that isn't worded quite right. It feels like he's been in love with Nico for ages, and in actuality he has been for at least a year, but this is different. There's that kind of lightness that makes him feel certain that he's flying, so that when he feels grass tickling his feet, he's honestly surprised, and he does remember this feeling, but it's so completely different in the same way that it's familiar.

He's spent time in the Hades cabin that he wouldn't have imagined, before. He'd spent some time in there previously, but now it's so different. He used to stop in and drag Nico out of bed, maybe hang out and talk if outside was actually unpleasant, if the Apollo cabin was crowded, if the forest was not an option for one reason or another.

But he's fallen asleep inside the Hades cabin now, and not because of extenuating circumstances.

He remembers the feel of Nico's hand on his wrist, how he tugged Will along with him, that fond and beautiful and stupid and awful and wonderful smile on his lips, the look in his eyes, and how absolutely sure Will had been, in that moment, that he could not possibly feel better than this. They'd kissed on Nico's bed, and laughed, and talked, and there had been periods of lazy silence, of lying next to each other on the same bed, taking in the astounding comfort of another person's body heat, and the certainty of a moment like that.

Waking up had been much more of a concern, since they were both head counselors and were _supposed_ to set an example (not that Nico cared, really) and Will knew that when he came into the Apollo cabin a bit after sunrise, he was going to be in for it.

But while Nico didn't much care about setting an example, he did think ahead sometimes, and he had evidently _planned_ for Will to stay overnight (which was, wow, not something Will was exactly prepared to realize because _wow_ ) and Will had learned three things that morning:

1\. Waking up next to Nico is an amazing experience, and he isn't really sure quite how to put it into words.

2\. It was _Nico_ that was taking his clothes, which was actually something of a relief, since they weren't actually lost, until Will started wondering when he had done it.

3\. If you walk into your cabin 20 minutes after everyone else got up, without having come in before everyone fell asleep the night before, with your hair wet from a shower and in different clothes than the previous day, your younger siblings will believe that you woke up early, but the older ones definitely will not, and you will be getting looks all through breakfast, as well as subtle teasing for up to a week afterwards.

But Will finds himself almost savoring that teasing, because in about a month, it'll be gone. He'll be gone. It's too strange to think about not living with his siblings, not having them be right there, always ( _always_ ), about not having the responsibilities he's lived with for years. He can't imagine it, literally, he cannot imagine what it will be like to visit and have a new Apollo camper ask who he is.

No more Big Brother Will. No more gentle comforting of young, new campers who are afraid to be away from everything they've ever known. No more campfires, and oh, that smarts, knowing that he'll be absent from the fire and that, in time, his place will be _gone_.

It's all difficult to think about. He doesn't even really mean to think about it, most of the time - it just sort of happens. Like, right now, lying on the grass, right near the strawberry fields, soaking up sunshine during a rare period of free time -normally, this would be absolutely wonderful, something that Will would treasure for at least the rest of the day. But today, he's so caught up in thoughts of the future, he's hardly noticing the warmth he usually cherishes. It's disappointing.

Will closes his eyes, meaning to try and focus more on the here and now, and less on his fast-approaching departure. He had started this out thinking about Nico, too, which is usually a terribly nice train of thought.

A shadow blocks the sun, and Will opens his eyes to see that the sudden cool is not caused by a cloud, but rather, his boyfriend.

"What are you doing here?" Will asks, conversationally.

"You were thinking upsetting thoughts, and it summoned me." Nico says, with hardly a trace of humor, lying down next to him. The warmth of the sun comes back, then, which Will will readily admit is pleasant.

"How do you know I was thinking upsetting thoughts?" Will challenges, rolling on his side to face Nico.

"Usually you have a disgustingly blissed out expression when you're sunbathing." Nico informs him.

"Disgusting? Gee, aren't you a charmer." Will teases.

"Well, it is." Nico says, more like he's stating a fact than defending himself.

"Rude," Will says, smiling lightly. Nico just raises an eyebrow at him.

"Come on," He says. "What's the problem?"

"It's nothing important," Will says, offhandedly. Nico sighs and smacks Will on the head, not hard enough to really hurt, but not really playfully, either.

"Don't give me that." Nico says. "You're upset. It's important. Quit invalidating your own feelings, you hypocrite."

"Alright, alright," Will says. "Point taken. I was just...thinking about leaving. About how strange it is, and how there will be new campers who don't even know me. That's just so crazy to think about! I've been head counselor for so long, and the senior healer, and just. The big brother. I don't know what I'm going to do without all of that."

"We'll visit," Nico says, with a look of gentle concern and understanding, because he's found a home here, too, even if it's different for him.

There's something about the way Nico says "we" that sends a thrill through Will, warms his chest and makes his heart feel about a hundred miles above the ground. He leans over and gently brushes his lips against Nico's, just for the featherlight feeling.

"I know," Will says. "Thanks."

Nico looks a bit confused, but not unpleasantly so.

"You're welcome?" He asks, his forehead scrunched up. "That's all? I could have gone on, you know."

"I know." Will says again, smiling. "But you don't have to. I'll be fine, really. I appreciate it, Death Breath."

Nico rolls his eyes dramatically and flops onto his back, spreading his limbs wide.

"Will I never be rid of your horrible nicknames?" He groans.

"Nope!" Will says cheerfully, grabbing a handful of grass and sprinkling it over Nico's face.

This sparks a brief wrestling battle, which ends with Nico gently pinned under Will, though they both know he could overtake Will anytime he wanted. Will leans down and kisses him, and with the sun warm in his hair and Nico's lips moving with his, he finds that bittersweet thoughts of leaving flutter out of his mind, which is too full of love and happiness now to manage anything else.

 

* * *

 

 

Standing at the top of Half-Blood Hill with Will Solace, Nico finds himself overcome with emotion.

It's been strange for a while now, knowing that this is his last year at camp, his last summer, his last fireworks, his last inspection, his last game of Capture the Flag, his last everything as a camper. Now he's off, to a future at another camp, and he knows he'll visit, that nothing can keep the people who have called Camp Half-Blood home away from it forever.

It's sort of nice, to feel sadness at leaving. The past three years here have been wonderful, better than he could have known, even if they aren't full of exclusively happy memories. He did a lot of healing here, a lot of self-acceptance, a lot of hard things, and he isn't sure if it's possible not to have developed a deep attachment to this place. He felt at home here, like he was among family, even if it wasn't right away.

It's hard to leave home. But he's going to a place that has every chance of becoming home all over again, which makes all of this a lot easier.

"I know this is a cliché to say," Will says, breaking the contemplative silence they've had for a few moments, standing like this and looking down. "But I can't quite believe we're actually leaving this place. It's hard to wrap my head around it."

"I know," Nico says. "I'm probably going to be longing for velvet funeral home decorations by the time we get to the bottom of the hill."

Will laughs, and Nico smiles, his chest still a bit caught at how different he is now, at seventeen and leaving this camp. It's just so utterly nice, to be feeling this much better, to have been feeling good and supported and accepted.

It's that feeling, like he's high on life, that causes him to grab Will's hand and yell down into the camp, "I'm in love with Will Solace!"

Will laughs in a kind of happy shock, grinning when Nico looks over at him. Will squeezes his hand tighter and takes a deep breath.

"I'm in love with Nico di Angelo!" Will releases his hand, then, and cups both of his hands around his mouth. "Nico di Angelo is my boyfriend, and I'm in love with him! His smile is one of the best things I've ever seen, and _I! Am! In! Love!_ "

He slings an arm over Nico's shoulders, then, and looks at him like he's stupidly in love, which he is, and like everything is wonderful right now, which it is.

"I have kissed this beautiful person!" He says, still yelling. "I am actually dating this wonderful person! I'm in love with my best friend, and it's fantastic!"

Nico takes a hand and pulls Will's face down for a kiss, which makes up for its briefness with enthusiastic feeling.

"I literally just kissed Will Solace!" He shouts, out at the camp, out at the world, out at anyone who will hear it and know that right now, Nico di Angelo is being very much a stupid, seventeen-year-old boy and is positively _thrilled_ by it.

"Jeez, we know, already!" Comes a voice from the bottom of the hill. Nico can tell even without having to look that it's Lou Ellen, but he finds her figure anyway. He can see Cecil next to her, along with Kayla and a scattered assortment of their other friends. "Go be disgustingly in love somewhere else, would you? You'll make all of us sick, right when our best healer is leaving!"

"Ouch, by the way!" Cecil yells up. "I see how I rank! Dating your best friend, huh? You've hurt me, Solace! You have wounded me!"

"I love you, big brother," Kayla adds. "But you are literally the sappiest person alive, and it's extremely embarrassing to be related to you right now!"

"Gonna miss you guys, too!" Will yells back down.

"Tons!" Nico shouts, surprising himself a bit. Happier he might be, but he still isn't typically one for random and loud displays of feeling. Today, though, is an exception already and may as well continue to be so. "We'll Iris-message and visit when we can!"

"You better!" Comes a yelled reply, which makes Nico's smile widen impossibly.

"We totally will!" Will shouts back, grinning just as hugely.

"Goodbye!"

"Bye!"

"See you!"

"Make sure you visit!"

"Love you guys!"

"Goodbye!"

"Thank you!"

"Bye!"

"Later!"

And somehow, after all the shouted farewells, after the strange feeling of leaving home and crossing the barrier, they've made it to the bottom of the hill.

Nico's pretty sure he's never felt happier than in this moment, which is crazy, because he's leaving Camp Half-Blood and the friends that he made there. But he knows where he's going, knows that Camp Jupiter holds other friends, holds his sister, holds happy memories and sad moments and difficult things and everything that will make it a home, just waiting to be created and experienced.

So he walks, hand-in-hand with Will Solace, finding a kind of joy that makes every breath feel deeper, and leaves.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked the fic, and comments and kudos are, as always, very much appreciated. I got a few very nice comments on Light A Roman Candle With Me that certainly made my day a lot better. 
> 
> You can also find me at: pennamepersona.tumblr.com. Feel free to comment on this fic, on other fics I've written, ask why I have animosity for the word inflammable, or whatever else!
> 
> [Buy me a coffee!](https://ko-fi.com/A375K8Q)


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